The present invention concerns a heel-operated device which allows for the actuation of a part of a musical drum set with the user's (player's or drummer's) heel, and more specifically, a device that allows operation of a pedal for actuating play of an instrument of a musical drum set with the user's heel while allowing the ball or tip of the same foot freedom to operate a second pedal for actuating play of a second instrument such as a pair of cymbals.
Usually in the area of musical drum sets, the player's right foot actuates the foot pedal of a part of a musical drum set--for example, a large drum 13 and the left foot actuates the foot pedal of another part of the drum set--for example, a Charleston pedal that controls the clashing of a pair of cymbals together. This is the case for a right-handed user, with the inverse for a left-handed person. In the case, for example, in which the drum set consists of a large drum and Charleston cymbals and has been designed for a right-handed person, a pedal is positioned for the right foot and, when operated, this foot pedal actuates a striking hammer that strikes the skin of the large drum. A second pedal is positioned for the left foot and, when operated, this second foot pedal actuates a striking hammer that strikes the skin of the large drum. A third foot pedal--the Charleston pedal--is typically placed next to the second pedal of the large drum and, like the second pedal is also intended to be actuated by the left foot.
The known ways of carrying out the operation and play of such a drum set present a considerable inconvenience as a consequence of the existence of two pedals intended to be actuated by the same foot--e.g., the second pedal of the large drum and the Charleston pedal--which requires that the user must choose to actuate either one foot pedal or the other. These known ways do not permit the user to actuate the two pedals simultaneously.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,747,464 discloses the use of two pedals with the same foot--i.e., by activating the pedal of a large drum with the heel--but the arrangement has the inconvenience of being very difficult to use in a practical manner in so far as it does not have any element that allows the user to actuate the two pedals simultaneously in a meaningful way and does not allow the striking force to be controlled in a meaningful way.
The goal of the present invention therefore consists in avoiding the inconveniences of using conventional foot pedal operated drum sets in which two pedals are provided for operation by the same foot of the player.